Sense To Run Away
by haveyouseenmyhaggis
Summary: When Ianto leaves, Jack is desperate to know where he's gone. Owen wishes he was as brave as Ianto. Jack/Owen mild slash-y-ness.


**Title: Sense To Run Away**

**Summary: Owen wishes he was as brave as Ianto. **

**Author's Note: This story just came to me randomly the other day so here it is. Slash. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Torchwood. _**

* * *

"Ianto's left you, Jack, and there's nothing _I _can do about it!" I snap. Captain Jack Harkness has to be one of the most frustrating and complicated men in the whole planet. Seriously, he's seriously getting on my nerves now. He's wandering around like a lost puppy. The girls are trying to by sympathetic but we all know why Ianto left. Jack's complicated. He's more than that, he's one hell of a headache. With him, we never know if we're coming or going because next thing we know he's running off to some distant land with a "Doctor". Well, damn them both.

"Can't you talk to him?" Jack asks me helplessly. I stare at him in utter disbelief. Jack Harkness asking for help? Seriously? What the hell is the world coming to?

I shake myself mentally and remind myself to reply to Jack's question, "No. I can't. He's gone. He doesn't want anything more to do with us or with you. You have to respect that, Jack."

Jack watches me dejectedly. I'm standing here with a scalpel in my hand, preparing for an alien autopsy and sorting out Jack's love life. Please, God, what have I done to deserve this? I raise my eyebrows at Jack and he looks at the ground. There's evident pain in his eyes and I do feel bad for him. I guess he did love Ianto, but he had a pretty warped way of showing it. But then again, that's just how Jack is. He flirted with Ianto all the time but next we know, he's feeling up some other random we're meant to be interrogating.

"Owen, he told you where he's going, didn't he?"

"No," I lie bluntly. I forced it out of tea-boy the other day. Well, if he will wander around like he's debating life or death, I have to ask him, right? When it comes to it, I do care about him. A bit. Sort of. Well, you know what I mean. Just because I know where he went doesn't mean I have to tell Jack a start I'm sworn to secrecy on pain of death. Not that Ianto would kill me.

"Tell me, Owen," Jack snarls. Suddenly he's gone from utter misery to fury. He can tell I'm lying to him and he doesn't like it.

"No, Jack, I won't," I retort hotly, "Ianto left and I'm not telling you what he doesn't want you to know."

"Oh yeah, because you were his number one confidant, weren't you?" Jack sneers at me. He takes a step closer to me and that startles me for a moment.

"Well, maybe if you'd listened to what he was trying to say to you-," I start but Jack grabs my shoulder. I try to shrug him off but his grip is digging painfully into me and I'll probably dislocate my shoulder of I move and I can't really be bothered with that.

"I listened to everything he said," Jack hisses at me.

"Really? I can see the way you look at Gwen. So could Ianto. Are you really sure you want Ianto? Or are you just doing it because you can't have Gwen? Huh? What's the truth, Harkness?" I demand iicily. It's true. Everytime they're alone in a room together you can see from the way they look at each other that all they want to do is each other. Those little shared glances between them as good as scream how they feel for each other. But still, Jack's with Ianto. I never thought it would last. Sure, it was kinda cute but it wasn't going to work. I've known Jack a lot longer than tea-boy and Gwen and I know what he's like.

"I... I cared about him," Jack stutters, "I still do. So tell me where the hell he's gone, Owen!"

"No!" I practically yell at him. He's so close to me now and I can see the anger burning in his eyes. There's a bizarre look in his eyes and I don't really know what to make of it. I watch him carefully and try to stop my heart racing. Okay, so I admit it, Jack in a temper scares the hell out of me.

"I can make you tell me," Jack growled at me. I can't help but snort at that. As if he could make me tell him anything.

"Oh yeah?" I challenge, "Go on then."

Suddenly, his lips are against mine and I haven't a clue what's going on. My mind is instantly scrambled and I can't think straight. I can feel his hands running down my back from my shoulders but I still don't comprehend what's happening. To my surprise, I react naturally to his touch in some sort of daze. Oh. My. _God_. What the _hell _is he doing? I shut my eyes and whine slightly. Pathetic, huh? I should not have admitted that.

Next thing I know, he's pinning me up against the wall of the autopsy room. Startled, I let Jack deepen the kiss and feel a stupid feeling like I'm flying. Which is just _wrong. _He's my boss. And... And... Oh, sod it. I kinda like what he's doing. But I hate it at the same time. It's just weird. His hands are fiddling with the zip on my trousers. My hands clench into fists as my knees shake slightly. I try to tell myself it's ridiculous. I was arguing with him a minute ago. Now he's got a fistful of my t-shirt in one hand and is tugging at my jeans with the other. Still kissing me.

All at once I feel an agonising stabbing pain. "Jack!"

For a moment Jack doesn't stop. He keeps trying to kiss me, despite my efforts to push him away. I'm acutely aware of a deep throbbing in my left hand now and _hell _it hurts. Eventually Jack gets frustrated with my pulling away and my jaw locking defiantly. He looks puzzled but seizing the moment, I elbow him away from me and look down at my hand. The scalpel falls to the ground will a small metallic chime.

I stare in stunned disbelief at my hand. Blood. Everywhere. I've been holding onto the scalpel all the while and now... _Fuck _it hurts. Scarlet blood is gushing out of a deep gash right across the palm of my hand. My stomach clenches and my mind spins for a moment. I bite my lip hard trying to gather my scrambled thoughts. Jack reaches out to take my hand and examine it but I hit him away. I don't want him to touch me.

"Get the hell off me," I snarl as I make to move to the cupboards at the other side of the room. I stumble slightly, realising my trousers are half way down my knees. Cursing loudly, I pull them up with my good hand and dash over to the cupboards. I tug one open and pull out a long crepe bandage. Winding it tightly around my hand to stop the blood, I turn to see Jack standing quietly by the door looking dejected and wounded. That was not the look I'd been expecting from him after this.

"I'm sorry, Owen," he says sadly. I frown slightly, trying to work him out but all I'm aware of is the deep throbbing in my hand. I ignore Jack and look out surgical thread and a needle. I'm going to need to stitch my hand up now. Damn you Jack. I tug a box of a shelf and awkwardly open it. I swear as I realise I'm not going to manage this by myself. And I'll be damned if I'm asking Jack.

Luckily, Tosh has just appeared at the top of the stairs looking concerned. "Is everything okay?"

"Little help please, Tosh," I say as I wrestle single-handedly with the safety seal on the bottle of anaesthetic. She nods and hurries down the stairs, gasping slightly as she notices the blood dripping from the bandage. She takes the bottle from me and opens it quickly. I hand her a syringe and tell her how much to draw.

"What happened?" she asks as she does what I asked her to. Her eyes flick from Jack at the other side of the room to me. I know I look a mess; trousers unbuttoned, shirt ruffled and my hair sticking up. Not to mention my bloody bandage around my hand.

"Nothing, just..." I say looking at Jack for a second and then back at Tosh, "Just me being careless. Got distracted."

"Oh," she says, brow furrowing slightly as she tries to figure out whether I'm telling the truth. She seems to accept it alright and hands me the syringe. I take it with a small smile and then stab it into my hand. I bite my lip and count slowly to five in my head. Then I pull the syringe out and wince slightly. Gradually I can feel the numbing starting in my hand. It's easier for me if I can't feel what I'm doing.

* * *

Ten minutes later, my hand is bandaged and stitched up properly. I'm sitting on the sofa in the main Hub area staring at my feet. Suddenly, I hear a strangled sob from nearby. I look up, surprised. It's coming from Jack's office. I get to my feet and walk over to the door. I enter without knocking and look at him with raised eyebrows.

"Owen?" Jack whispers softly, "Did you know about this?" He holds up the small bottle of pills I know to be Retcon. The lid has been opened and several pills are gone.

I hesitate for a moment before answering, "Yes."

"He won't remember us," Jack says quietly as he sits down in his chair and stares at me like I'm some sort of mass murderer.

"It's easiest," I say lifelessly. A sort of hollowness is filling up my heart now. Have I really done the right thing? Should I have let tea-boy run of with the pills? He said he wanted to forget us if he was going to leave. He said it would be for the best if he did that. He told me he couldn't face any of this any more and life without the memories would be better. I promised I wouldn't stop him.

"He's gone," Jack says dejectedly.

"Yes."

At least one of us had the sense to run away from all this before it got too late. I'm not brave enough. I'm stuck here forever. There's no way I can do what Ianto Jones did. Even though everything is far too much for me at times, I'm still here aren't I? Because I'm too scared to run away. I'm always too scared.


End file.
